Sad Conclusion

[irish rebel]

Guys I have been using linux for the past 10 years and every year I think maybe this year.Recently I was involved in a business partnership that would have produced a line of desktops and laptops as well as a tv dvr type of device many approaches were made to various distros and commercial linux companies. alas all to no avail.
See a company like apple produces a unix based os and sexy gadgets
they brand it as cool people buy it.Microsoft produce crap and it sells , LInux is free and it is next to impossable to get out of that 2-3% niche.
Apple have a apple tv box what do we have myth tv configure it at your own risk.I have built one it runs .....sometimes, .My pan was to have a computer manufacturer produce a line of desktops , laptops and tv boxes what I wanted from a distro was to work on the software end , get a really good mplayer gui , get a really good photo app digikam I think and I have tried them all is the one photo app that actually has the potential to really make the cut .
Get a distro to configure myth tv to easy specs to great hardware the best we had was a small distro which configured myth but again it bogged down while streaming.
Linux and the opensource /free software movement are great but without a major company stepping up to the plate ...Like novell/redhat/Ibm we are doomed to our wee niche.
On a sidenote I bought a imac yesterday as well as a apple tv they work great plug and play

[Drakx]

On a sidenote I bought a imac yesterday as well as a apple tv they work great plug and play


ROLF I just love that, and its great how they just work with plug and play ;)

[aysiu]

I thought TiVo used Linux:
http://dynamic.tivo.com/linux/linux.asp

[irish rebel]

Many companys use linux in their appliances , Linksys for one and many tv appliances the problem here is that their is no unified apprach to putting linux in front of people. Cheap pc's in walmart wont cut it a big company has to come up and say here is a line of top notch laptops , desktops and a tv dvr all based on linux and free or open source software .

[christhemonkey]

Linux and the opensource /free software movement are great but without a major company stepping up to the plate ...Like novell/redhat/Ibm we are doomed to our wee niche.

Novell/redhat/Ibm all do make huge contributions to the open source world (in one way or another)?!

[Drakx]

Think what he/she was getting at was a "Media centre" setup i.e just install and go as in vista or xp mce

[Xavieran]

Dell invested in Red Hat in it's third (non-public) investment round,as did novell,IBM,Intel and Netscape...

So I think large corporations realise linux's potential quite well...

Think of System76,they produce high quality laptops and desktops for the masses...

[az]

Guys I have been using linux for the past 10 years and every year I think maybe this year.Recently I was involved in a business partnership that would have produced a line of desktops and laptops as well as a tv dvr type of device many approaches were made to various distros and commercial linux companies. alas all to no avail.
See a company like apple produces a unix based os and sexy gadgets
they brand it as cool people buy it.Microsoft produce crap and it sells , LInux is free and it is next to impossable to get out of that 2-3% niche.
Apple have a apple tv box what do we have myth tv configure it at your own risk.I have built one it runs .....sometimes, .My pan was to have a computer manufacturer produce a line of desktops , laptops and tv boxes what I wanted from a distro was to work on the software end , get a really good mplayer gui , get a really good photo app digikam I think and I have tried them all is the one photo app that actually has the potential to really make the cut .
Get a distro to configure myth tv to easy specs to great hardware the best we had was a small distro which configured myth but again it bogged down while streaming.
Linux and the opensource /free software movement are great but without a major company stepping up to the plate ...Like novell/redhat/Ibm we are doomed to our wee niche.
On a sidenote I bought a imac yesterday as well as a apple tv they work great plug and play

Being that the software is already there, putting something like that is notso hard. You would have to have an understanding of how to do it. Asking an established distro if they want to do it is not the wayto go.

It sounds like your business venture failed and you are looking for something to blame.

[irish rebel]

Drakx yes that was what I meant, Look I started using linux when red hat was in the 5.xxx series I have watched it grow to where now I can install ubuntu in 20 mins and be up and running , The problem is it is not out there in front of the average joe . We can configure this or that but put Ubuntu on a pc in walmart and sell it to a newbie and tell him to go to the forums and look up codecs install tricks and he or she is lost , Linux needs a big pc company to say we are producing a state of the art line of computers, These same companies need to help the open source application developers to make the apps easy and intuitive , Imagine someone who has used photoshop for ten years and you put them in front of the Gimp 5 mins if they cant figure it out guess what they are installing windows again.
By the way if ya want to see my ubuntu desktop go to www.43hacks.com

[leafhound]

Guys I have been using linux for the past 10 years

:lolflag: 10 years to reach a conclusion about Linux, go spend another 10

If Linux has grabbed you for that long how can you come up and report one bad thing
without even mentioning some good things. the things that have had you gripped for the last 10 years

[irish rebel]

Actually we had capital and a pc manufacturer that was interested the problem was always going to be getting a distro and the developers to agree , Red Hat ,IBM and Novell all make their living on the server end
That is fact.In My day Job I manage over 700 Linux servers I live ,breath this stuff so stupid remarks about spending ten years etc , I was writing winmodem drivers FOR debian and slackware when noone else was doing it .

[MetalMusicAddict]

I'm sorry but I just wonder why any of us are supposed to care about these threads?

[az]

Linux needs a big pc company to say we are producing a state of the art line of computers, These same companies need to help the open source application developers to make the apps easy and intuitive ,

Sorry, but I find Ubuntu/Gnome apps a lot more intuitive than Their windows equivalents. It's different, but it's not different for the sake of being different. There are usability guidelines.



Imagine someone who has used photoshop for ten years and you put them in front of the Gimp 5 mins if they cant figure it out guess what they are installing windows again.


I have never used Photoshop. I have used the gimp for the past seven years and I was put in front of a recent version of Photoshop and couldn't figure out how to do many tasks. I author presentations for work in Openoffice since PowerPoint is a miserable way to make slides.

Etc...

I suppose what you are trying to get at with this thread is that Gnu/Linux needs to gain marketshare. It's a chicken and egg situation, and it's not one big company that's going to sweep in and bring Free/Libre software to the mainstream.

It certainly is not the case that the licensing prevents that.

[az]

Actually we had capital and a pc manufacturer that was interested .

Everex beat you to it.



the problem was always going to be getting a distro and the developers to agree ,

That's the wrong attitude. Either fork or go with the flow. Doing nothing is not a plan.

[Xavieran]

The problem is it is not out there in front of the average joe . We can configure this or that but put Ubuntu on a pc in walmart and sell it to a newbie and tell him to go to the forums and look up codecs install tricks and he or she is lost .


I'm quite sure that you know that it is illegal for Ubuntu to ship with codecs in certain countries...


Linux needs a big pc company to say we are producing a state of the art line of computers.

Dell is now selling Desktop PC's with Ubuntu preloaded on them...



These same companies need to help the open source application developers to make the apps easy and intuitive , Imagine someone who has used photoshop for ten years and you put them in front of the Gimp 5 mins if they cant figure it out guess what they are installing windows again.
Sun helps to code and fund OpenOffice.org...

I have never used photoshop before and I have now been using gimp with no problems for quite a few months...If people are not willing to learn,then that is sad. GIMP is a replacement for Photoshop not a clone of photoshop...
P.S.It does not say much for that persons character if they are going to give up because of one application taking some time to learn...

[irish rebel]

My whole point of this is that I believe linux is ready for the world , I never intended to produce a cheap line of pc's I run Ubuntu at Home my 4 kids have never booted a Windows pc Oldest kid plays WOW on linux thru wine ,The main topic of conversation with most linux users is getting it to the masses, the problem as I see it is that their is no unified approach , and without that Linux on the desktop is going to be confined to where it is now , a small niche market.Companies Like IBM and Novell make their living on the server end Suse linux is free Novel is making nothing on the desktop version yet the developers many of whom are unpaid are building applications so that Suse and others are able to gain market share of the server market which is fine. But having said all that in order to gain desktop market share The linux movement or a distro has to connect with a manufacturer and also with application developers and invest money in the applications that may mean say for instance here in the USA making the various codecs available for a fee , I researched the whole multimedia codec issue and the cost would have been somewhere around $ 4.32 and that would cover all the main codecs etc etc . I use the Gimp but my point was that if you presented the Gimp to someone who has used Photoshop for 7 or 8 years they would balk.

[Xavieran]

This should probably go to "Recurring Threads"

I have had success introducing linux to people in my town...
And the fact that dell sells PC's with *nix on them makes it all the more credible...I think that linux is slowly making itself known to the world...

[3rdalbum]

If you've got an Apple TV and a MythTV setup, you'll know that the Apple TV is more like Elisa, and MythTV is more like Tivo.

[jrusso2]

My whole point of this is that I believe linux is ready for the world , I never intended to produce a cheap line of pc's I run Ubuntu at Home my 4 kids have never booted a Windows pc Oldest kid plays WOW on linux thru wine ,The main topic of conversation with most linux users is getting it to the masses, the problem as I see it is that their is no unified approach , and without that Linux on the desktop is going to be confined to where it is now , a small niche market.Companies Like IBM and Novell make their living on the server end Suse linux is free Novel is making nothing on the desktop version yet the developers many of whom are unpaid are building applications so that Suse and others are able to gain market share of the server market which is fine. But having said all that in order to gain desktop market share The linux movement or a distro has to connect with a manufacturer and also with application developers and invest money in the applications that may mean say for instance here in the USA making the various codecs available for a fee , I researched the whole multimedia codec issue and the cost would have been somewhere around $ 4.32 and that would cover all the main codecs etc etc . I use the Gimp but my point was that if you presented the Gimp to someone who has used Photoshop for 7 or 8 years they would balk.

This is the problem no one is willing to pay $4.32 for codecs to come with ubuntu but me.